Verse 1.4

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.4:

एकस्य सर्वबीजस्य यस्य चेयमनेकधा ।
भोक्तृभोक्तव्यरूपेण भोगरूपेण च स्थितिः ॥ ४ ॥

ekasya sarvabījasya yasya ceyamanekadhā |
bhoktṛbhoktavyarūpeṇa bhogarūpeṇa ca sthitiḥ || 4 ||

4. Of which one that is the seed of all, there is this state of multiplicity, that of the enjoyer, the enjoyed and enjoyment.¹

Commentary

The One Brahman is the substratum of powers which cannot be defined as identical or different from it, as existent or non-existent and are not opposed to one another;² it is differentiated into unreal forms which, like the beings appearing in a dream, have no external reality, are different from one another and are knots of the nature of enjoyer, enjoyed and enjoyment. When the predispositions towards differentiation mature, this worldly arrangement with its multiplicity comes into being.³

Notes

1. The main purpose of this verse is to point out that nothing is different from Brahman and that, yet, all appearance of differentiation is due to it.

2. Even though the powers produce opposite effects and are, in that sense, opposed to one another, yet they are said to be not so, because they all exist in the same substratum at the same time. (ekasmiṅn ādhāne yaugapadyena vṛtteḥ—Vṛ.).

3. tasya granthyantarasamatikrameṇa vivṛttagranthiparicchedasya. This is rather obscure. The word granthi comes twice. See note, 7 on verse 1. The commentary ‘Ambākartrī’ explains granthi as vāsanā, the predispositions leading to differentiation, whereas Vṛṣabha takes it to mean the differentiated objects themselves. Something which appears as a differentiation within something which has no differentiation is a granthi. As Vṛ. puts it, ata eva paramātmano vikāratvād granthayaḥ. I have used the word ‘knot’ suggesting a distortion of reality. The translation is very tentative.